Typically, parents who smoke don’t do so in close quarters like their houses or cars when there are young children or newborns present.
After all, we have long known that exposure to secondhand smoke is unhealthyTrusted Source.
However, a new study indicates that many parents are unaware that the same regulations should also apply to e-cigarettes, as second- and third-hand vaping may likewise be harmful to one’s health.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Tobacco Control member and paediatrician Dr. Jonathan Winickoff is the leader of a research team that recently examined how much more prone parents might be to use e-cigarettes in enclosed areas.
Winickoff recently told Healthline, “We recognised that the industry statements and advertising about this being a safe product were not genuine. “We questioned whether these products would have mislead parents into believing they could use them around young children and infants.”
While 63.8 percent of dual users (those who smoked both cigarettes and e-cigarettes) had policies prohibiting smoking inside the home, only 26.3 percent had policies prohibiting vaping inside the home, according to their research.
Only 21% of dual users had policies that forbade vaping in cars.
Because they “usually don’t have the bad stench that the cigarettes have and the aerosols become undetectable after a few seconds,” according to Winickoff, parents might perceive e-cigarettes as being safer in enclosed areas.
Electronic cigarette risks
The language is deliberate, according to Brian KingTrusted Source, PhD, Deputy Director for Research Translation in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The individual finds it challenging to quantify their particular amount of risk because of the aerosol’s high degree of fluctuation, he claimed.
This is the reason the surgeon general said that e-cigarette aerosol isn’t innocuous rather than saying that it is especially dangerous.
So what precisely does the aerosol from an e-cigarette contain?
“The science is still variable,” King said. The e-cigarettes themselves typically include nicotine, ultra-fine particles, heavy metals, and even some cancer-causing particulates, he claimed, which is what we do know.
Although King stated that using an e-cigarette is safer than smoking a traditional cigarette, “it doesn’t mean they are safe.”
There is no justification, in terms of public health, for not prohibiting [e-cigarette use in enclosed spaces].
third-hand knowledge
Parents should take into account a few other issues, according to Dr. Karen Wilson, an AAP spokesman and professor of paediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
“When you look at what comes out of an electronic cigarette, other compounds are there in addition to nicotine. And we’re not really sure what the potential consequences of them would be,” she said.
This is due to the fact that the science behind e-cigarette technology is currently being developed. (Similar to how the data supporting the risks of nicotine intake led to the earlier surge in cigarette use.)
According to the science of thirdhand exposure, “one thing we do know is that the aerosol drips off and falls to the floor,” Wilson added. “You run the risk of babies consuming those poisons while crawling around on those floors.”
It’s simply extremely vital and kind of common sense for parents to refrain from using these products in areas where their children would be present, she continued.
However, King noted that “all thirdhand exposure was previously secondhand exposure, so if you restrict use in indoor areas, it’s going to lessen those dangers,” despite the fact that we are unsure of the potential long-term health implications of thirdhand exposure.
Recognizing the dangers
This possibility is one of the things that motivated Winickoff and his group to undertake this course of study.
He explained that these substances “may contaminate surfaces and permeate into clothes, rendering them dangerous.” These substances are absorbed by people in three different ways: dermal absorption (through the skin), oral ingestion (via household and automobile dust), and inhalation (through breathing).
He is really concerned about the effects that exposure may have on children.
Children may weigh one-tenth as much as adults, but they consume twice as much household dust. This means that the effective dose of nicotine and chemicals may be twenty times larger than it would be for an adult,” he said.
Nicotine is not safe for the developing brain, according to Winickoff, as it can modify reward pathways and structurally alter how the brain functions.
He cited earlier research on nicotine-using kids and teens that revealed “nicotine exposure can lead to mood problems, anxiety, and sadness. Early nicotine exposure may prepare the brain to be more vulnerable to addiction during puberty and the early stages of adulthood.
Experts worry that third-hand e-cigarette exposure may carry similar health hazards.
What does the science actually say, then?
According to studies published by the AAP, using nicotine at a young age increases addiction and makes quitting more difficult.
This is thought to be due to the long-term effects of nicotine use on the prefrontal cortex, which is still growing.
However, the research on the effects of nicotine exposure on adolescents focuses on adolescents who smoke or use e-cigarettes, but it is at least conceivable that exposure to nicotine in other ways could have a comparable effect.
Even though research is progressing, we simply don’t know enough yet.
Customers are given a narrative
Despite the known and potential health hazards, the tobacco industry continues to promote e-cigarettes as a better option than smoking.
E-cigarettes can be used everywhere, according to marketing, Wilson said. And it’s troublesome and worrying because it fosters the misconception that all that is produced by e-cigarettes is air vapour, which is just untrue.
Wilson emphasised that there may be additional factors impacting some parents’ perceptions of the safety of e-cigarettes.
“I believe that certain doctors and healthcare professionals support e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to tobacco consumption. And I believe it’s simple for people to miss that safer doesn’t always imply safe when you are marketing that message, she added.
Giving up e-cigarettes
Winickoff emphasises that there is support available for parents who are thinking about stopping because they are concerned about how their personal use of e-cigarettes may be affecting their children’s (as well as their own) health.
He advises using smokefreetxt (text QUIT to 47848), phoning the quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW), and using FDA-approved nicotine replacement products, such as combination patches and gum.
These items can be used indoors, don’t pollute the environment, and don’t encourage modelling behaviour in kids who might otherwise be prone to copying what they see their parents doing.
Ref: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/parents-vaping-in-cars-with-kids
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